on-line manual
On power up the VME rack will load the real-time operating system which in turn loads the autoguider application. Once loaded the autoguider system software is executed.
The first action of the autoguider system software is to self-test all the hardware. If successfully tested, the autoguider software then attempts to 'ping' its CCD controllers. If it cannot find a controller, the autoguider software defaults to test-mode, which allows the user to use the autoguider with artificially generated starfields. The system is now ready for use.
The only command necessary at this stage is:
agping
which establishes a communication link to the autoguider system software in the VME rack. Once this has been achieved, all other commands can be utilised.
autodisp
This produces a window based image display environment with menu options and button controls for majority of autoguider functions.
Command: agping 'rackName' Decription This command provides a mechanism to determine if the autoguider system has booted and is running. Due to the nature of its implementation, it is only able to determine if the DRAMA interface task is operational on the autoguider system. Options none
Command: agstargen 'function' 'value' Decription In order to allow testing of the autoguider when no CCD (or CCD controller) is available, a test generator has been included which provides test frames suitable for checking the functionality of the autoguider. The interface to the test generator is provided by the agstargen command. Options ENABLE - Enables the star test generator DISABLE - Disable the star test generator TESTCARDENABLE - Enables the testcard generator TESTCARDDISABLE - Disables the testcard generator NUMSTARS 'n' - Sets the number of stars that the test generator should generate. This can be between 1..10 inclusive XMOTION 'value' - Sets the pixel increment in the X direction which will be added to the star x-position each frame. The value is in pixels between 0..5 YMOTION 'value' - Sets the pixel increment in the Y direction which will be added to the star y-position each frame. The value is in pixels between 0..5 RESETMOTION - Returns the test stars to their defined positions before motion was added
Command: agtest [POST | PROCTEST | RAMTEST | DR11WTEST] Decription The agtest command allows self-testing of the autoguider system hardware. Each test provides complete testing of registers (stuck bits, connected bits, etc.), clocks, RS-232 ports (using loop-back testing), RAM (again stuck bits, coonnected bits, etc.), ID registers and board existence in VME rack, for example. Note that this command is an engineering function only and is provided for diagnostic purposes only. Options POST - The power-on self-test command provides a mechanism to execute the autoguider POST function. This tests all the hardware in the autoguider system PROCTEST - Tests the facilities of the VME CPU card RAMTEST - Tests the facilities of the VME RAMcard DR11WTEST - Tests the facilities of the DR11-W interface card
Command: agwin [acq | gui] [pos | size] 'x' 'y' Decription Allows the setting of the position and size of the acquisition and guide windows. Position co-ordinates are provided in pixels referenced to the readout corner of the of the device (on the display this corresponds to the top-left of the screen). Size values are also in pixels and should be set to a size greater than (1,1). The maximum values for the co-ordinates and sizes depends on the the size of the CCD device (all current Peltier cooled CCDs have dimensions (400,288) pixels, with a bias strip accounting for the first 10 pixels in the x-direction). Note that when setting the window positions, the co-ordinates refer to the centre of the window. Options ACQ - apply operation to the acquisition window GUI - apply operation to the guide window POS - change position of window SIZE - change size of window x, y - define (x,y) position or size
Command: autotime 'integrationTime' Decription Sets the image capture integration time. Options integrationTime - the integration time in msec. Value must be in the range 50msec..30sec inclusive
Command: autotv [ON | OFF] Decription Enables or disables the autoguider continuous acquisition (TV) mode. This mode continuously reads ou the CCD using the given integration time. The image data is avaiable via the appropriate monitored DRAM parameter. Options ON - enable continuous acquisition OFF - disable continuous acquisition
Command: field Decription Performs a field operation. An image is acquired using the selected acquisition time. The image is then processed and up to a maximum of 10 objects suitable for using as guide objects are identified. The identified objects are categorised and their associated data is available via a DRAMA monitored parameter. This client initiates the field operation and returns immediately. The updating of the monitored parameter should be used to indicate completion of the operation. Options none
Command: guide [ON | OFF | ON STAR 'n' | ON PIXEL 'x' 'y'] Decription Enables or disables the autoguider guide mode. The options allows the client to select autoguiding on an object from the list obtained by the field command, or to guide on a particular location in the image. When guiding on a specific pixel, the guide window will be centred on that location. The guide window will be prevented from being placed outside the acqusition window. The pixel position is given in pixels relative to the readout corner of the CCD device; on the display this corresponds to the top-left of the screen. When guiding on an object, the value must be a valid entry in the star-log and must have a value in the range 1..10. Options none - enable guiding on object 1 ON - enable guiding on object 1 OFF - disable guiding ON STAR 'n' - enable guiding on object 'n' ON PIXEL 'x 'y' - enable guiding at location (x,y)